Review: "The Jay Leno Show"

On May 29, 2009, “The Tonight Show”, as
an institution, aired its last episode from Burbank California. The sets were
broken down and the latest iteration of the late night show moved to Universal
City under the tutelage of Conan O’Brien. As had been decided earlier,
however, the one relic that would not budge was Jay Leno, the eponymous host
of NBC’s newest daily program, “The Jay Leno Show”. After a violet blitzkrieg
of summer advertisements, the show premiered last night looking,
unfortunately, all-too familiar.

As his former show waned, Mr. Leno only let on a few details about what the
new 10pm program would look like. One tidbit was that there would be no desk
for him to prop up behind as that was the calling card of The Tonight Show.
Apparently, the desk was the only casualty. Mr. Leno now sits in a chair,
fully exposed, opposite his guests as they blab on about their personal lives.
Whoa, revolutionary.

I had pretty high hopes for “The Jay Leno Show”. You may remember I praised
Conan for his work in the 11:30 space, where he is doing exactly what Jay
was. The trouble is this whole time slot issue. At 10:00 I want something
different that what I want at 11:30, and I really thought Jay could deliver.
Nix the monologue, maybe, and do round table jokes about topics of the day.
Throw in more sketches, perhaps, that evoke more of an SNL daily. I thought
maybe the format of the show would change in a manner that really would force
us to reconsider what we expect at 10:00. It hasn’t happened yet.

While I believe that Jay is a real sweetheart, I’ve never found him all that
funny. Unaware of the back story, as a kid I found it odd that the gap-toothed
hilarious guy on after Johnny Carson didn’t get his job. He has a talented
slew of writers who keep things fresh, but his delivery has always been
stilted, in my opinion. He doesn’t sell me the punchline; he kinda just lobs
it at the wall and sees what sticks.

The premiere’s major moment was an unplanned sit-down interview with Kanye
West, who was performing with Jay-Z and Rhianna. Mr. West apologized for an
outburst at MTV’s Video Music Awards the night before in which he took the mic
from Taylor Swift as she was accepting an award. What transpired was a few
minutes of televised horse-shit, schlock, cheap puffery. Call it what you
will, it was still what a slimy studio pimp might call “good TV”. After an
apology of sorts, Jay asked Kanye what his deceased mother would say about his
actions. A hardball question, indeed, but one that has no purpose except to
get Mr. West welled up inside and act like a person instead of the inflated
celebrity we see all the time. It was very low of Mr. Leno, towards both Mr.
West and Ms. Swift, whose moment of glory was once again been overblown by
hip-pop’s shining star.

I’m sure that Mr. Leno does not forget his interview with a scandalized Hugh
Grant back in 1995. The episode propelled him over Letterman in the late night
ratings. Trying to strike oil twice? This isn’t the way to do it. While Leno
may be the talk of the town for confronting a pop headline, he will still have
to bring the funny every night in order to stay relevant. I give it 3 months
before NBC, who ousted deal-maker Ben Silverman, gets wise to the situation
and brings some drama back at 10:00.